Google’s Free Zone in Philippines underscores search giant’s interest to become global ISP November 27, 2012 by Terence LEE Despite the hoax press release of Google ‘s supposed USD500M acquisition of Wifi provider ICOA, which duped the Verge, the Internet giant’s recent forays to become an internet service provider is no joke. While the search company has gotten a lot of press mileage for its Google Fiber experiment and partnership with Boingo to provide wifi hotspots in the United States, the launch of the Google Free Zone in the Philippines could make the most impact. The Rappler reported that the Philippines is the first country to host Google’s new intiative, which lets people access Gmail, Google+, and Google search free-of-charge on their mobile phones. Announced on November 8, the service does not require users to have a data plan, and works on most internet-enabled...